Beauty Product Reviews

Another holy grail for me

I'm FINALLY going to review my photoready foundation. You know a product is your holy grail when you can't stop coming back to it, and when you do, you wonder why you ever strayed to begin with. This product gets so much crap, and maybe its because it's only for people with a very specific skin type. I have dry skin with a lot of redness, but I have nearly no acne. My skin is a pretty flat surface, but it is discolored. If I use other foundations, like colorstay, my face looks cakey (even if I use the normal to dry skin formula). I have come to the conclusion that for people with acne, this product is terrible, but for people with just redness, this product evens your complexion and gives you a beautiful healthy glow.

Recently I have tried out several BB creams, and they do not give the coverage or glow that this foundation has. They are too wet. For me, this is the perfect medium between foundation and bb cream. It feels lightweight on the face, but it still definitely covers my redness and evens my complexion. There's really nothing to it. My skin looks unhealthy when I don't wear this foundation, but it looks perfect when I do.

ALSO worth mentioning- this is a very pink-toned foundation (at least in the lighter colors), and I have cool under-toned skin. Colorstay is too yellow for me. If you have redness or just a natural blush, this will look natural and healthy and blend best with your skin.

Just eh

I've been using this mascara for a few months now, sometimes combining it with my Covergirl lashblast, and I finally decided that I don't really like it. For some reason I want to say that this mascara makes your lashes very sturdy. It coats the lashes and makes them VERY black, however I don't like it because I know that other mascaras- especially lashblast- pick out every baby fine lash and define them. This mascara makes my lashes stick together and appear as one big thick lash rather than a bunch of small fluttery ones, which I don't like. (Basically, it clumps them together but doesn't have actual clumps of product like other bad/wet mascaras). It makes me look like I have 6 long, dark and thick lashes. It is not buildable at all. I think the first swipe of this stuff will look better than the sixth. I will say I think something about the sticky/sturdiness of this product will hold a curl, but regardless I think it makes me look like I have far fewer lashes than I do. If you are blessed with many many lashes that are thick but want them to separate more and be more defined, I guess this mascara would be for you. For the high end price, this is not worth it to me.

my beef is with the cap

I loved this liner when I first got it. I use liquid liners to get very close to my lash line and fill in gaps between my lashes, and this liner is perfect for just that. It's a great dark black, doesn't rub itself off or apply streaky like some liners do, and lasts a good amount of time. BUT!

While in my makeup bag, the cap slid off and dried out the liner. I then asked my mom to use hers one day, took it with me, and the same thing happened. The packaging is at fault for this product NOT being my holy grail liner. If I can't take this with me in my purse without it drying out and becoming unusable, then I don't want to pay the steeper price for it. Either leave this on your makeup vanity and be VERY CAREFUL to see that the cap is tight, or opt for a drugstore liquid liner like milani's. Personally, I don't think it's that much harder to control.

Dry, dry, dry

This was brand new, and I could not even get any pigment on my brush from this stuff it was so dry. Even if I wet the brush. I got the dark purple eggplant color; I think maybe (and hopefully) the black one's formulated better.

Try all of them

I have this in a few different colors, and I like some more than others. I wish I could try more, but they are often out of stock at the store. I normally like nude and light colors that are lighter than my lips but not too pink. Unfortunately, the ones I have are mostly glittery pinks. Basically, the ones with less glitter, like candy apple, are highly pigmented and amazing. They are all moisturizing and fun, but I personally the glittery ones look a little tacky. They seem to put a layer of glitter onto my lips without putting a matching layer of color underneath. For example, creme brûlée, the nudest color which I love, seems to put a very shimmery tan onto my lips, but the pink of my lips seeps through and so I look like I have pink lips with gold shimmer. You have to apply a lot of it for this to go away, and that's just glitter overload on me. I guess I just like more opaque colors. It really depends on which you get.

Current favorite

This was my first dry shampoo as well, and so far I can't use anything else. I have bought 4-5 cheaper versions, including batiste, suave, tresemme, and more. I hate all of them- and in the end, even though this is more expensive, a little goes a MUCH longer way than those other brands do. It actually works for me, and the others don't- plus it adds volume.

I'm still on a search for the best dry shampoo, but so far this is winning.

I used to love you...

I used to use this ALL of the time. I would always buy a backup so that I wouldn't run out. I have hair that's hard to curl, so I used to use this when I'd scrunch my hair or alone on braids or a bun to amplify waves. Honestly, I feel guilty betraying it, but this is overrated. This is just one of those things where the DIY would actually be much better. You wouldn't be compromising to make your own seasalt spray- it works the same if not better, doesn't have anything added to it, and saves a butt load of money

They do smell great, but they're expensive for the quality

I went on a scented candle frenzy this fall thanks to Elle Fowler on youtube. Some smell a bit chemically, like most candle brands, but most of them are absolutely divine. I loved a lot of them, but my favorite is Kitchen Spice. I have only smelled the fall scents, so I hope to go back soon and smell some more fruity spring-time ones.

The problem with these is that the three wick candles can get really messed up if you don't burn them right- and Elle also mentioned this in one of her videos. Basically, one or two of the wicks will go out, and so they will burn unevenly. Once this happens, eventually certain sides of the candle just can't burn anymore, and puddles form, and it just makes.. a big mess. I know I'm doing a bad job describing it. Anyway, my mom said she doesn't experience that with Yankee, and that it happens to her with cheaper candles. Now that I know I'm not the only one who has this problem with B&BW candles, I feel more confident in saying that the quality doesn't match up to yankee candles. Yankee is more expensive, but not by much. It might be more worth it.

I've seen B&BW have a lot of sales on these, at least online. They come and go quickly, but you can get candles for like half the price (basically a three wick for the price of the medium sized one.) I definitely recommend that if you purchase these, you wait for a sale because a sale WILL come around, and you'll get your moneys worth that way.

Not for me, but still delightful

Whenever I smell this scent in stores, I think it's O.K; it's just not my scent. The thing is, every time someone in my presence is wearing it, I say, "Someone smells good" and find out someone is wearing viva la juicy. It's gotten to the point where I can recognize it and now I say, 'someone wearing viva la juicy?' instead. I'm still on a search for a scent that is MINE, but this is definitely THE perfume right now. Everyone loves it, everyone compliments it, and it seems to have good lasting power.

Why do i feel so differently about this than everyone else?

I have used many eyelash curlers, all purchased by my mom at CVS and the like. I was long overdue for a new curler. On beautylish I had seen so many great reviews for this thing, so I thought, why not ELF? I love elf.

The first thing I noticed was that I hate how thick the top piece of metal is. It was nearly impossible for me to get my lashes wedged in this thing. Why? Because the top piece is so tall and I have deep set eyes, so I can't get even a slightly close curl comfortably, for it just doesn't fit between my brow bone/eye socket and my eye. I know a lot of them are made this way; I've just never had one.

Next, almost every time I use it the bed falls out, and sometimes I reach for the curler and the bed has fallen out while it's just been sitting on my vanity. On top of that, if I put on mascara before curling, this thing STICKS to them like glue. Most of the time if your lashes have been coated in mascara maybe two minutes before curling, the curler will stick a bit. With this, it seems to stay stuck for almost an entire minute. It has really had me panicking a few times, for it seemed like gently wiggling it wouldn't make it let go of my lashes, and upon finally getting it off, the bed falls out onto the floor or on the sink again.

I know it's a steal for how cheap it is, and I do love ELF, but I have had a dysfunctional experience with this curler in more ways than one. Because it doesn't fit well, it also misses a lot of my lashes. It's also pinched me when I'm not even close to my eye. Maybe I got a faulty one, or perhaps different eye shapes need a different curler. Who knows!